More than income, more than education, a factor that STRONGLY predicts how folks will vote is their view on abortion...
The Voting facts....
Abortion should be "alway legal"
=> Voted Kerry 73% / Bush 25%
Abortion should be "always illegal"
=> Voted Bush 77% / Kerry 22%
How did you vote, and what tactics on either side do you believe are particularly effective?
<<NOTE - this is NOT a prolife/pro choice debate - it is a discussion of the political impact/effectiveness of the tactics of the various organizations>>
Well, here are the full results from the CNN exit poll on the matter:
Always Legal (21%) - Bush 25% Kerry 73%
Mostly Legal (34%) - Bush 38% Kerry 61%
Mostly Illegal (26%) - Bush 73% Kerry 26%
Always Illegal (16%) - Bush 77% Kerry 22%
Collapsing these together into either "legal" or "illegal" groups, we have the following:
Legal (55%) - Bush 33% Kerry 66%
Illegal (42%) - Bush 75% Kerry 24%
So, in terms of percent voting in favor of their view of abortion, the pro-life side has an edge. However, in terms of the number of people who support either side of the debate, the pro-choice side has an edge - 55% of people want abortion either always legal or mostly legal, compared to only 42% of people who want abortion either always illegal or mostly illegal. I'm assuming that the 3% left over declined to answer this question, and not that they just fell off the face of the planet.
What remains to be seen is whether or not those 55% start voting more strongly on their view of abortion. If they do, then the Democrats will get a distinct edge in the abortion debate. If they don't, then the GOP will stay with the edge.
Right now, the GOP has the edge, so I vote option 2.
Poll
